Connecting Faith and African Culture

The Rev. Elochukwu Uzukwu, C.S.Sp. holds the Father Pierre Schouver, C.S.Sp., Endowed Chair in Mission. He works to deepen the academic and intellectual discussion about culture and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.

Uzukwu, associate professor of theology is a native of Nigeria and a graduate of the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu. He served as a missionary in the Congo, starting in 1979. In 1982, he began work at the Bigard Memorial Seminary and in 1987, he became the founding rector of the Duquesne-affiliated Spiritan International School of Theology nearby.

Uzukwu, associate professor of theology and author of the books A Listening Church and Worship as Body Language, has research interest in the intersection of versions of Christianity with African traditional religion and cultures across West Africa as well as in liturgy and sacraments, rituals, the study of the church and its relationship with Jesus Christ (ecclesiology), and the study of the mandate, message and work of missionaries (missiology).

A native of Nigeria and a graduate of the Bigard Memorial Seminary in Enugu, he received his S.T.B., or bachelor of sacred theology, from Urban University in Rome and his master's of theology and doctorate of theology from the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto.

Uzukwu served as a missionary in the Congo, starting in 1979. In 1982, he began work at the Bigard Memorial Seminary and in 1987, he became the founding rector of the Duquesne-affiliated Spiritan International School of Theology nearby.

In Paris and Ireland, his teaching focused on evangelization, history of mission, interreligious dialogue, globalization, development, justice and peace. He took leave in 2007 to teach at the University of Notre Dame before arriving at Duquesne.

As the University's strategic plan supports a new emphasis on Africa and the African diaspora, this work takes on a greater significance for the entire campus community.

"How do you negotiate a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ within the world today?" Uzukwu asks. As the Schouver Chair, he will develop an annual lecture, periodic University-wide seminars and national symposia that focus on different aspects of the intersection of culture and the Catholic faith.

In his latest book, God, Spirit, and Human Wholeness: Appropriating Faith and Culture in West African Style, to be published soon, Uzukwu tackles questions of integrating religious dialogue across faiths.

Editor of the Bulletin of Ecumenical Theology, a journal published by the Ecumenical Association of Nigerian Theologians, Uzukwu is a sought-after presenter invited to lecture, give workshops and participate in conferences in Europe, Africa and across the U.S. Besides his workshop for missionaries in Ethiopia, focusing on evangelization, his presentations have focused on ecumenism with Christianity, Islam and African traditional religion.

Father Schouver served as Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit from 1992-2004. For Uzukwu, continuing and encouraging these dialogues is now inspired by Father Schouver, who invited him to preach at a retreat for the Spiritan General Council in Sienna.

"He was quite remarkable as an animator, a mentor of the youth in Bangui," Uzukwu said, recalling when he first met Schouver in the Congo in 1979. "He found the work fascinating; they loved him, and he had so much knowledge. It is an honor to be serving as a chair that carries his name."